A Front
by Curimuch
Summary: Sesshōmaru blames Izayoi & Inuyasha for the death of his father, someone whom he dreamt of challenging. 5 years later he reveals himself to the family who lead his father astray. Though he told his father he had no one to protect, he winds up doing so, convincing himself he is only keeping Inuyasha alive to fight him on fair grounds when he is old and skilled enough. Mild AU.
1. Chapter 1

"Mama, is it only just you and me?" The small hanyō asked his human mother who held him securely in her lap. The white haired boy who dawned dog ears on the top of his fluffy head was lonely, and wondered if his mother felt the same. They had each other, but it felt too hallow for a five year old boy to describe, something the mother knew all to well.

"Maybe..." She gently answered with solemn mercy. As she carefully combed her fragile fingers through his silver strands of hair, she held her gaze up at the night sky. "When I look up, Inuyasha, I feel like the sky tells me, _maybe not_." She never knew much about the likely lengthy history of the daiyōkai she loved, but she felt somewhere in the corner of her soul he left more than just her and their at the time newborn behind. He probably had other children out there, and comrades who weren't as fond of mortals like he was, but she hoped that they would accept Inuyasha when he inevitably headed out into the world without her.

"When I look up at the sky at night time, I think about when my hair will look like yours!" Inuyasha piped. When he looked up, he saw both his mother's small smile and the sparkling sky above. On those nights, Inuyasha was sure to stay awake until the sun had risen before he decided to burrow under covers for rest. The poor child never had to align himself with the other children, even when he turned human for one night. "I think it might be tomorrow." With age he was growing more accustomed to predicting time of the new moon.

"Inuyasha..." She murmured but had ended her sentence short. She was always curious if the boy had ever caught the scent of another dog yōkai yōkai, or if he ever wanted to see another silver haired individual.

"Huh? What is it, mama?"

"Nothing..." She softly answered as she pet through his hair. "Enjoy the sky until you find yourself suddenly in your dreams," she suggested to her boy with gentle scratches to his sensitive ears to placate him. Once she stopped, his twitching went from his ears to his little nose. "What is it?" There has been times her son had smelled scary things, to simple cooking she could barely afford to buy, and when it was fall season such as now, it hurt her that she couldn't obtain as many yams for Inuyasha as she would like.

"I smell a yōkai... a boy yōkai... and he smells like..." His smile grew in size as he announced, "Like a dog!" He excitedly exclaimed, but his mother covered his mouth, though she knew it was futile; a full fledged yōkai would hear even a whisper she's sure. She wasn't sure if she should attempt to run away, light an annoying scent to scare the yōkai off, or simply wait to see if he was coming for them. It felt as fateful as the day she was in labor with the very child who was locked in her protective mortal hold. Before she had the chance to fairly decide a decision, the dog yōkai appeared and her hold on Inuyasha tightened enough to pull him closely against her bosom. The yōkai moved elegantly and at a casual pace that still looked like the march of a warrior. The closer he approached, the more details she saw about him.

He looked a lot like her past lover.

Though the violet markings on his very pale cheeks were split into pairs on the sides of his face, those were still markings her lost love had on his face that their son did not have. He had golden eyes under red lids too, striking silver hair and ears that pointed to the sides just like the Inu no Taishō. The only difference between her yōkai lover and this teenage male was that his eyebrows were thinner, and that he had the mark of a crescent moon on his forehead, otherwise, a relation was evident.

"Your names." The full fledged yōkai demanded evenly, though his golden eyes pierced her humble brown ones. Air escaped her first, then she struggled to keep her writhing child with her, feeling fear toward the male who demanded their names. His fine eyebrows began to furrow the longer it took for her to answer, sending chills down her spine.

"I am Izayoi, and my son is... Inuyasha." In actuality she did not want to introduce her child to this threatening teen in front of her, but for safety's sake, she strategically gave in.

"Humph... _Inuyasha_..." The way he spoke the name was with disdain and judgment; another fear of a mother coming into plight. Had his late father not told him of the arrival of a younger sibling...?

"Release him so that I, Sesshōmaru, may speak to him."

"Sesshōmaru...?" The boy curiously repeated as he managed to turn his body to face 'Sesshōmaru' while still tightly held by his mother.

" _Inuyasha_ ," he punctuated, as if solidifying their names to one another before he continued on, "two things we share in common, one is our father, who is no longer with us, _Inuyasha_." He blamed him, he blamed both of them, and while the child did not understand, the fallen princess did in place. "Half of you is yōkai with his blood, the other half...human, _Inuyasha._ " His brows remained furrowed, his shining gaze hard pressed, even as he flipped his long, and well-kept silver locks back.

The hanyō swallowed a lump in his throat after the other boy had stopped speaking. He was very scary, but all the while fascinating. He had to know for certain about something-

"Are you my older brother, Sesshōmaru."

"...Yes," he answered with a heavy frown on his face. Despite his expression, the younger pup beamed at him anyway. Sesshōmaru turned around and took a pace forward.

"Wait! Older brother-"

" _Sesshōmaru_ ," the older dog yōkai reprimanded as he continued walking away.

"Sesshōmaru!" The boy cried out at toward the other who did not halt or nor turn around. "Will I see you again, Sesshōmaru?!" To his surprise, his older brother had halted in his pace, though he still did not turn around.

"As long as you live, _Inuyasha_ , we will see one another" he vaguely answered before he continued on ahead. He ignored the other boy's sweet reply of telling him goodnight as he disappeared into the darkness.

Izayoi felt her heart fall into her stomach. A feeling of uncertainty, confusion, and apprehension. She did not feel trust for Sesshōmaru like she felt trust toward Tōga, the boys' father. Inuyasha's excited smile disheartened her, when normally she wanted him to have such an expression toward something or someone other than her...

 _Tōga... Will Sesshōmaru harm or protect Inuyasha? Dear Tōga... please, I ask one more thing of you, inspire Sesshōmaru to not harm his younger brother, Inuyasha..._

 **A/N: Though taking place in the past where the brothers firs meet, this fic is more loosely based off the manga where Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's interaction isn't so incredibly volatile. Neither do they have an intense rivalry for as long as the anime. It's still a wish fulfillment fic in it's very nature, but I am also trying to make it match with canon as best as I can, thoughI won't beat myself up too much if I don't achieve that effect totally. You can also find me on tumblr under the url tofuget  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Sesshōmaru wasn't above curiosity as much as he liked to be. Something kept him earthbound to the area, it tickled his senses every time he tried to leave. He had lingered on the outskirts of the human village for several hours, never going back home as he intended. He briefly spied on the half-bred boy once when the sun had risen to see that the child and mother were asleep. He later returned again to see that the child remained sleeping as if he were some sort of feline rather than part canine. It did not seem like a human thing to do, as some of the villagers rose with the chickens, some later, but they all consistently roamed around in the sun and hid in the darkness. Izayoi seemingly hid at all times of the day. She rarely left her child's side, and humans never approached their shaggy place of shelter.

"Pathetic" Sesshōmaru observed aloud. This view bestowed him with regret for sniffing out and _going_ to their residence, let alone for a second time. He is now visually, and through his nose, unpleasantly aware of his father's flaws. "Selfish," he softly huffed. Before him was a lonely pair in complete shambles. A solemn princess who was now a nobody, and a hanyōwho is _born_ a nobody and hated by all sides. Worst of all, his father was already married to _his_ own mother and had the nerve to spawn a half-bred son. " _Why?_ " His thin brows knitted into an unflattering position as he watched the illegitimate boy's ears twitch. Perhaps those silly looking ears actually were something. "Wake up." The way those little white ears circled, the boy definitely heard Sesshōmaru's voice. Inuyasha sat up and looked toward the window, but Sesshōmaru was up too high to be seen from within the house.

"Mama," the child yawned. "I heard Sesshōmaru," he finished before he got up and headed toward the window. He stuck his head out and sniffed. "I smell him now too..." The full fledged yōkai could see, hear, and smell the two of them, though he remained visually undetected by his half-brother whose weak demonic energy was even weaker than it was the night before.

"Hanyō, do you turn soon?" His curiosity spoke for him.

"Huh?" There was that word again. Just as the boy was about to ask what he meant, his mother appeared before the window too, distracting him. Her delicate hands placed on Inuyasha's shoulders as she attempted to find Sesshōmaru with her limited senses at this distance. She could not hear him like her son could.

"What is it?" His mother inquired.

"Um, he said 'do you turn soon' and...that word again, han...yō, mama. Like the villagers who won't play with us... You never said what it meant-" and though it was futile of her, she put the blinds over the window and shooed Inuyasha away from it. Unfortunately the boy could still _hear_. Sesshōmaru smiled at her response, he had found her behavior to be impudent, and he believed her to be idiotic to think she could really protect Inuyasha from this harsh world in a shabby shack of a home.

"You are not demon, you are not human, you are both combined, and because of that, you do not belong anywhere. Unsightly. That is what hanyō are," Sesshōmaru put the effort to simplify his answer. He wanted that half-bred boy he detested to understand. He wanted the boy to realize he was an abomination, something _bad_. With his superior nose, he could smell the boy's sadness progress to the scent of salty tears.

"Inuyasha!" the yōkai heard the mortal mother gasp. "Inuyasha! Why are you crying, my dear?"

"Hanyō," he hicced. "Hanyō...I know what it means now...and it isn't nice..." With the answer to his mother, his little body sobbed with great sadness and pained innocence.

When the blinds were yanked up and her hands slammed on the wooden seal in protest before she hollered, "demon!"

"Daiyōkai," he corrected. "Defiled princess," as he said this, he appeared in front of her at the window. "You cannot ward me, you do not have the power to, neither my respect." He needn't speak more, he expressed his hatred with the gleam of his powerful eyes. He did not realize that he also shown jealousy to the keen woman. Her anger dissipated, but not into nothing, but a more passive emotion. To her, this young yōkai was jealous of her baby and was trying to assert superiority of his father's feelings and over the existence of another who shared his bloodline and concern... She lowered the blinds again, and they were shredded by claws of the 'Daiyōkai'. Steel faced, she watched the young male leave as he done before.

She was certain that the other boy would not kill Inuyasha, and that was perhaps unfortunately, the least of their problems.

 **A/N: The first two chapters were like a split prologue, the following will be when the story truly takes off and the chapters becoming slightly lengthier. Thank you for those who left comments and are following this story (:**


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